Creatures of the Wind / Pre-Fall 2014

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The summer of 2013 brought good news for Shane Gabier and Christopher Peters of Creatures of the Wind: They signed with an investor—which has allowed the 2011 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund runners-up the resources to, amongst other important and exciting things, throw their hat into the pre-collection ring. Their first, pre-fall, is a move into “making things more clearly defined as luxury,” Peters says. Which explains the duo’s use of calfskin for pieces like a perfect little deep orange jacket and a black A-line dress, cashmere knits, and little touches such as silk-covered buttons. All this has led to a new softness for the collection—still tailored, but less masculine than spring’s sportier offering.

But don’t let that fool you into thinking Gabier and Peters have lost their edge. Pre-fall has some interesting inspirations. “We were looking at young girls in the late sixties and early seventies, when you started to see things go from very straight to this kind of faux spiritualism and Eastern influences,” Gabier says. So, for example, a buttoned day dress gets an almost psychedelic mosaic-print “plaid” and a tassel fringe; a flat-front, tunic-length gray coat has a panel of brocade on its front. Proportions are a tad off on purpose, the designers admit. But not so much so that the silhouettes are unwearable. Take, for example, a calf-length, Empire waist dress; its near-shapelessness makes it a possibility for many types of women, and as Peters points out, occasions. It could go formal, and on the flipside of that he’d even pair it with sneakers. See there’s that Creatures of the Wind fun, that subversion.